Richard Rodriguez is an American journalist and essayist who often writes about his life and the obstacles he has faced during so. He has become widely known due to his popular book, The Hunger of Memory. In the excerpt that’s presented, Rodriguez talks about how his life has changed tremendously due to education, and he goes on to describe how he feels “assimilated.” Rodriguez comes from Mexican Origins and is the son of Mexican Immigrants and throughout the excerpt he has an internal fight due to the fact that he feels as if he is now a stranger to his once familiar culture. However, the one thing that has taken Rodriguez as far as he has come is his education.…
The heart of the passage is made clear by the very first sentence. Rodriguez begins, “My mother is not surprised that her children are well-off” (line 1). The subject of the first sentence can be very telling as to the subject of the entire piece, and that is the case here. In fact, the entire first paragraph is totally centered on his mother -- her children, her predictions, how she thinks she’ll look when she’s old. All of that with absolutely no mention of his father. For most couples topics like pride on children’s accomplishments and plans for the future are something they share -- in an optimal situation both parents are proud of their children and their future plans include each other. However, Rodriguez only mentions his mother -- blatantly excluding his father…
I can somewhat relate to Rodriguez’s life. Both of our parents are immigrants whose first language is not English. However, while Rodriguez slowly drifted away from his family’s origin and language throughout the course of the book, I think I have grown closer to my family. Also, Rodriguez was ashamed of his parents’ accent when they spoke English in public. When I was younger, I would also get nervous when I heard my mom talking to the other moms at a museum. I am proud of my parents for coming to a foreign place.…
7. According to the author, what impact did the Rodriguez children’s use of English have on relationships within the family?…
By the end of the “Achievement” chapter, Rodriguez has some very profound things to say about his views on educational reform and personal evolution. The things that he says in the ending pages of the chapter do not really seem like they are the tale of a “happy ending” but more so, a large pun or an ironic statement made about how our desires entail such influential consequences. On pages 72-73, Rodriguez basically states that education is a tough process, a changing process even, and if one wants to become educated, one must be willing to embody some type of mental and/or spiritual change. He makes the point that some people, which would most likely be hippies or democrats –but he refers to them as “Radical educationalists”, are quick to…
He isolates himself by painting brown as an exclusive group: “You can’t know what I’m feeling unless you are me” (26). This distances Rodriguez from the reader and makes it difficult for the reader to empathize. Also, Rodriguez appears attention seeking, perhaps due to the lack of recognition of brown people, such as himself. He searches for pity by explaining the exclusivity of a white and black society: “brown was like the skinny or fat kids left over after the team captains chose sides,” (5). Rodriguez feels isolated from society, although he has created an inclusive group for brown people. Constantly seeking empathy, Rodriguez appears immature, and his appeals to pathos are…
embrace their heritage. For Richard Rodriguez, he grew up with Spanish strictly spoken in his…
Rodriguez uses dialogue throughout the passage to add effects and to help the reader to…
Rodriguez’s use of first person narration goes hand in hand with his establishment of ethos within his essay. Ethos is considered the moral element of literature and the credibility of the speaker. The use of ethos often determines whether or not the audience of a piece will trust the thoughts and actions of the speaker. By using pronouns such as “I” and “we,” in reference to both himself and his family, it allows the audience to gain first-hand accounts of a young Hispanic boy in a new American society. Rather than reading statistics of the number of children whose first language is not English and their success in the American education system, or…
The different educational level of Rodriguez and his parents has made it difficult for Rodriguez to communicate with them as he were mostly into books. He felt ashamed on how his parents could not answer; understand his homework questions or what he had been studying. At some point, Rodriguez intentionally tries to hurt their feelings because he thought he hates them for unable to be there for him intellectually. After finding the pleasure of education and knowledge at school, he expect some reactions on sharing his thoughts and reflections with his parents but unfortunately, the lack of abilities his parents possessed made him unsatisfied, unfulfilled and upset with their condition. “His academic success distances him from a life he loved, even from a memory of himself (Rodriguez)”.…
In the story, the author is getting pulled in various directions. Rodriguez wants to stay true to his Mexican culture for his parents' sake claiming they, “...grow distant, apart, no longer speak,” but also wants to belong in American culture where his education has driven him to a position not many Mexicans get to or have to opportunity to be (Rodriguez 105). This story confronts the idea that anyone can succeed as long as they are willing to sacrifice their cultural identity in the process.…
However, while Anzaldua refers to herself as Chicano (Mexican American), describing in great detail the challenges of learning yet another acceptable way to communicate, (“for people who live in a country in which English is the reining tongue but who are not Anglo,”)(56) the Rodriguez’ family were immigrants. Rodriguez does not specify when the family moved to the United States, although he does mention that as a first grade student his initial difficulties in learning English were shared by his two older siblings as well. His recollection of a visit to his parents by three nuns from their school, “Do your children speak only Spanish at home, Mrs. Rodriguez?” “That Richard especially seems so timid and shy,” (10-11) would indicate that the move was fairly recent. Both author’s parents used some form of Spanish to communicate in the home but were anxious that their children learn English. While Rodriguez’ parents were especially concerned with wanting their children to fit in with their American peers at school, Anzaldua’s mother voiced a particular concern that her daughter’s accented English could hinder her ability to obtain good employment and her education would be…
Rodriguez faces a few tensions in his personal experience such as being a "scholarship boy" as oppose to a well rounded student and and his life at home compared to a more friendly home environment. Rodriguez says that "I was a very good student, I was a also a very bad student. I was a scholarship boy, a certain kind of scholarship boy. Always successful, I was always unconfident. Exhilarated by my progress. Sad. I became the prized student - anxious and eager to learn. Too eager, too anxious - an imitative and unoriginal pupil." ( Rodrigues #283 ) Rodriguez describes himself here as imitating his teachers too much and being a perfect student instead of thinking for himself and taking in the knowledge he is given by his teachers and analyzing it and putting it to use. He is unoriginal and and uninteresting compared to a student who can use their knowledge in their own way and gets more involved. The other tension Rodriguez faces his the tension he has with his family, mostly his mother and father. At home his mother and father both support and encourage what he is doing very much but they didn't like the fact that he would always be in his room and the fact that the only thing he was involved with was school. "He permits himself embarrassment at their lack of education." (Rodriguez #286) This quote shows that Rodriguez's amount of knowledge of the english language and other subjects he had compared to his parents and therefore he was somewhat embarrassed by them and it created a tough home environment to live in because he didn't communicate much with his parents. This contrasts the home environment where their is a strong relationship between the family and their is communication.…
I agree with Rodriguez that your heritage will forever remain your identity but it is possible to have multiple identities in a sense of becoming accustomed to wherever you are. You can embrace your new profound identity and in a sense of individualism in order to succeed in life. Bilingual education to me is important because not only does it teach you to speak a universal language in America but also teaches you societal norms. Reason being is that once you’ve learned the proper language, mannerism, and culture you can choose to be the person you want to be. According to a writer at Kars4kids, which is an educational blog for parents, Merle Huerta suggests that “Bilingual education makes kids more adaptable and flexible in a changing environment.” (Huerta). With that being said, being bilingual can have adaptive benefits. The improvements in the cognitive and sensory process from bilingual experience may help students or anyone learning English to better process information in the environment. Furthermore, bilingual education can help train the brain by learning and inhibiting a new language which allows bilingual people to access newly learned vocabulary. In addition to benefits of Bilingual education Matthew Lynch, who is an author of The Call to Teach and editor of The Edvocate, states in his article that bilingual education, “helps remove international language barriers.” (Lynch). Lynch argues that bilingual education has cultural benefits to people learning two languages together. People who come from households that have English as a primary language can lend their language expertise to friends from Spanish-speaking homes, and vice versa. Overall in Rodriguez’s perspective, I understand that what once was his sacred and private language became something almost non-existent to him was abhorrent. Not only was language was changed but also his…
These descriptions start right after “Soon after Mr Ramirez had arrived..:” just like it wasn’t possible for him to do before he came. Pleasures that are harder to achieve in countries like Mexico are more easily attainable in USA, which is the land where your dreams come true, isn’t it?…